Edging ever closer to the prize for Africa’s largest national park, Ruaha now sprawls a mega 20,000 kilometres over Tanzania’s central plateaus. Between its borders run herds of dainty sable antelope, formidable buffaloes and an estimated 10,000 individual elephants, not to mention elusive cheetahs, a cacophonous mix of birdlife and marauding packs of African wild dogs besides. But wildlife isn’t this park’s only pull; the loyal following of safari goers it now commands is also due to its wondrous backcountry, which oscillates between lush riparian wetlands on the edge of the Mzombe and Mwagusi Rivers, sun-caked savannah and rising highland ridges—all peppered with clusters of looming baobabs and spiralling palms. Today, Ruaha National Park tour guides can recommend a number of different lodges, campsites and safari outfitters, which range from self-catering cabins on the cusp of the park’s boundaries to makeshift tented spots right in the heart of the wilds.